Another Reason to Avoid BuyMusic.com

The most alarming term, underlined for emphasis, states that:
"Except as limited below, we reserve the right to use or disclose your
personally identifiable information for business reasons in whatever manner
desired."

Because BuyMusic only allows Internet Explorer users at their site, I fired up
my old copy of IE and checked out their
privacy policy. It
consists of 6,000+ words that, essentially, states that they can do whatever
they want with the information you provide.

Posted on 28 August, 2003

The Tiny House Company

My
name is Jay Shafer, and I designed, built and inhabit a house smaller than some
people's bathrooms. I call my tiny home Tumbleweed. The decision to live in 130
square feet arose, in part, from some concerns I had about the impact a larger
house would have on the environment, and mostly because I just do not want to
pay for and maintain more space than I need to be happy. Tumbleweed meets my
needs without exceeding them. The simple, slower lifestyle my home affords is a
luxury for which I am supremely grateful.

Posted on 28 August, 2003

Documentation Weirdness

On this page, I list wacky, bizarre, surreal and otherwise
strange examples of technical documentation, particularly illustration. This
page is in its infancy, so I welcome submissions, both written and visual. Note
that I'm not looking for just bad technical writing--there are plenty of
examples of that. I'm looking for the inexplicable, the surreal and the strange.

Mars Shots

NASA released a pair of highly anticipated Mars portraits from
the Hubble Space Telescope today as the observatory's operators took advantage
of a proximity to the red planet not equaled in 59,619 years.

I was expecting these to be a lot more impressive.

Posted on 28 August, 2003

That Time Machine Spam Guy

You've probably received at least one spam from a guy who claims to be from
the future, and is attempting to repair a time machine. In fact, got another one of them
this morning.

A trail of Internet clues has fingered Robert "Robby" Todino as
the source of the time-travel messages. In a telephone interview last week, the
22-year-old Woburn, Massachusetts, resident admitted that he has sent nearly 100
million of the bizarre messages since November 2001.

Posted on 28 August, 2003

Eating a Big Burger

Step-by-step photos of a guy eating an
In-And-Out Burger with 16 patties and lots of extra cheese. Get rid of the
bun, and you've got a nice low-carb meal.

Customizing Windows

I work for Stardock which makes desktop enhancements. It is
because of my job that I'm familiar with desktop environments enough to write on
them. But it also means that I am not necessarily an objective source. This
primer is as objective as I can make it, but my background is important so that
you, the reader, can determine for yourself whether I am successful in my
objectivity.

Personally, I prefer the Windows classic look, with no wallpaper and a plain
black desktop. But that's just me.